Status Quo Ante
by stupique
Summary: Re-post. Fame, it tastes as good as cocaine, ecstasy, or probably even better. Fuji.Sakuno.Ryoma. AU & OOC.


**Status Quo Ante (Chapter 1): Lucifer **

I know this story has been on hiatus since like forever. Sorry to all who followed and (hopefully) enjoyed it. I have to admit, I had no intention of continuing this piece. But there was this night when a sudden wave of nostalgia struck me and I dug out all my old writings. Sitting in a forlorn folder was this little beauty. I did cringe a little at my horrible writing and cliché plot. Yet, like I always say, cliché is cliché because there is truth in it.

Therefore, I decided to rewrite this (again, I know). Mind you, my style has changed (for the better, I hope), together with my mindset and aim.

As usual, the story is still set in AU with Fuji, Sakuno, Ryoma in the same grade. Yes, they are still OOC.

Enough with the long story, please enjoy.

Note some coarse language though.

**Disclaimer: POT characters do not belong to me**

* * *

Status Quo Ante means "state of things as they were before". Plato's cave, people called it. Everybody relates to everything through their own experience. Comfort, was terribly blinding. It signified a sense of familiarity, a tangible emotion that acts like a weight to hold your heart down. People were entrapped in their own comfort zone. But life isn't that way. As much as people wish to believe there was simply black and white, yes and no, life presents you a myriad of choices, a dull grey area of charcoal, cold and unfeeling.

You just have to make a choice.

That's called the element of risk, the consequence of choice. Since you have chosen to uphold it, you must see it to the end.

* * *

Ryoma checked his hair for the last time before leaving the house. He had taken care to style the original mess of fibre using holding spray and gel. But before that, he did not forget to slot in his signature earring, a single metal stud. It came in a pair, he remembered, one for him and the other for someone who was as tangible as the morning light. She was a spread of raw emotions that struck him hard, simply unexplainable.

Ryuzaki Sakuno.

One and only.

* * *

Sakuno rushed through the pelts of rain, feeling the unkind weather hitting her back. "Fuck, why did I have to choose the perfect time to revert to my forgetful self?" she silently cursed as she ducked under the rushing hoard of umbrellas hoping nobody recognised her.

Entering the locker room and slipping out of her wet shoes, in exchange for her warm indoor shoes, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Ironically, she looked better dripping wet, she thought. Wild, messy, artistic and somewhat sexy. Grabbing a towel from her locker, she ruffled her shoulder-length brown hair dry before feeling a pair of hands place a towel over her shoulders.

"Don't catch a cold." the voice warned with surprising amount of concern.

"I won't, Echizen." she chuckled, turning round to face the familiar voice.

* * *

_Echizen. _That really stung.

_Not that she would know. _

"Sakuno, you know I meant that sincerely."

"There's no one here, the nice guy act looks pretty out of place." Sakuno smirked. "Thanks either way, darling."

_And care. _

She pulled the towel closer to herself and strode out of the locker room, the other half of the pair glistening under the harsh florescent lights.

* * *

Sakuno knew everyone was looking at her as she walked down the corridor but she didn't give a damn, not that she was in the mood to. Yes, she was wet and her uniform was sticking disgustingly to her bra, her hair was tousled messily, the strands tangled in each other and in turn, she felt like strangling someone. But really, who cared? It looked good on her, and probably wouldn't for anyone else. That was the point.

She set the trends and unsurprisingly, this hair-do will probably be the 'in' thing by lunch.

Not something she would feel internally happy about, contrary to her superficial wishes.

_Fame, alike power was strangely addictive._

* * *

_Extract:_

_Humans are social creatures who belong to a community, usually grouped together because common characteristics either through artificial or natural means. In this community, they undergo what we call social conditioning, a process where they become influenced by each other's thoughts, actions, emotions and gradually start to follow the same trends, eventually churning out people who lack individualism. For example, the Apple trend which started out with the aim of enabling individuals to be special in their own fashion, but as time passed, more people found satisfaction in this 'individuality' and everybody endorsed in it, resulting in the common sea of Apple products today. _

_How painfully ironic. Losing your individuality in trying to be different._

* * *

Fuji stashed his scholarship-worthy essay into his backpack. Funny how the essay which won him a scholarship was in actual fact mocking the structure any school, he mused. Glancing at his class allocation slip, he tried his best to navigate through the mass of students while keeping a lookout for any signs. He didn't realise anything amiss until by reflex, he dodged a stuck out leg meant to trip him.

"Hey, get out of the way bastard." the perpetrator hissed.

Fuji looked around and realised everyone had stood out of the way on either side of the corridor. It almost resembled a route for some ritual rite.

"Excuse me." a girl's voice cut through his thoughts from the back.

Turning round, he saw a rain-drenched girl glaring at him and immediately he felt his temper rising.

"I'm not even blocking you." he replied incredulously, nodding towards the empty path next to him. "There's still walking space."

"Get lost." she sneered, brushing past him. "You have a lot to learn, newbie."

* * *

When he finally found his class, he realised with horror that he belonged in the same class with the rude girl from before. _Fantastic,_ he moaned, _how honourable to breathe the same air as the brat. _

"Well, well, it's the loser from before." someone called out.

Frankly, such a situation was not foreign to him, he did transfer because of the politics in the other school. He thought this place would be different, but alas, life wasn't that nice to cowards. He was sincerely losing faith in humanity.

But he knew exactly how that girl felt. He was once like that after all.

Hence the retribution.

* * *

_Lucifer. He was once the highest of all angels, "brightest in the sky". Wherever he went, he was washed in admiration, beautiful, elegant, gracious, as others called him. He returned these praises with a shy little smile. But as the compliments grew, so did his ego and instead of refuting these compliments, he sought for more._

_Fame, alike power was strangely addictive._

_Yet, more was not enough and he refused to bow to God like the others. _

_Finally, the pride which he held so close to his heart broke him. And he was banished from heaven. _

_As he fell down to Earth, tears slipped down his face. Not because he was in grieve but because ultimately, the fame left him empty. _

_Still._

* * *

I changed the characterizations as you can see. Decided to play around with the characters more because the previous ones were horribly two dimensional. There are parts which might have religious content and I apologize if they are incorrect in any way (I'm a free thinker). Changed the backstory too, to make things a little more convincing and reasonable.

Please leave a comment, uh, criticize it if you want because that's how I grow.


End file.
